Getting back to school, the three pairs were allowed to relax for a few hours before being called to present their report to the superiors.
Nicholas's was the shortest so naturally he went first, followed by a round of applause and some kind words. Leo went up next, his report caused a frown on the faces of everyone listening.
"But that was a human claimed planet" a man by the name Major General Collin grim said.
"Calm yourself sir, the last pair you may present your report" General Val Anita said.
Major General Collin didn't appreciate being shushed by a woman, but being his superior in office he couldn't only hide his frown.
The room was thrown into further confusion after Levi and Brandon gave thier report.
"Raid, have the elves moved to the ice fortress, we will need to make sure they are telling the truth" General Val said.
"There seems to be a lot of secret movements amongst the foreign races" Colonel James said.
"We will have to level up our security, I suggest more soldiers be deployed to secure human settlements, extra patrols and a sped up calendar for the students" A woman by the name of Marrie Stormborn, Lieutenant General Marrie Stormborn.
"It's a valid suggestion but we can't rush the academic calendar, we might as well throw them all into battle right now, the current 1st years have already lost a lot of experience gaining opportunities when we barred them from going on anymore expeditions due to what happened" General Val said.
"I agree with General Val, though I heard they have a lot of prodigies amongst them including your niece but they are still unprepared, most of them don't even know what they are up against" Colonel James said.
"Why don't we? since they've a lot of so called prodigies amongst them, let them go on some recon missions" Brigadier General Edward Presley said.
"The veil we have placed over their eyes will be removed next year, that's when their real training begins so unless they past the years final exams, the only missions they can go on are crystal gathering, beast hunting and technical support" Lieutenant General Freya Great said.
"Acceleratimg the calendar isn't the same thing as dropping them into battle immediately, we would be wasting them that way" Lieutenant General Marrie said in agreement.
"General what do you think?" Colonel James asked.
"We are in a tight spot, the truce right now is the only thing stopping them from launching a full scale attack and according to these reports, they are secretly deploying their troops to hide amongst us, the moment war begins, we will be at a disadvantage, so we will increase security and patrol, we need to send out scouts and spies as well, it's important that we find out where they have infiltrated and pluck them out before it gets out of hand" General Marrie said.
"What about the elves? if they could give us locations of hidden camps, we could check it out, even if they move, they will most likely leave something behind that will help us track them" Sgt Raid said.
"That's a good suggestion but, they might know we are coming and ambush us" Lieutenant General Freya said.
"We could equip the scouts and spies with enegraphic scanners, that way they could scan the areas ahead before moving in" Colonel James said.
"Let's not forget thermionic googles, they will need those too" Sgt Raid said.
"Okay, we will send this report to the MMA along with our suggestions and wait for a reply, if there is nothing else, I believe we can bring this meeting to an end" General Val said.
With no opposition, General Marrie brought the meeting to an end, she and the other officers except Colonel James and Sgt Raid exited the room.
"So how did you boys find your shadow missions?" Sgt Raid asked.
"It was eye opening, a welcomed challenge" Bruce replied.
"That's nice to hear young Athena" Colonel James said.
"Indeed, it shows us how much more training we will need" Alec said.
"And the need to learn to work as a unit if we are to be victorious" Brandon said.
"Good, so I trust you keep on training, I will take my leave now, Raid, take care of them" Colonel James said before leaving.
"You all did well soldiers, dismissed" Sgt Raid said.
leaving the room, Brandon, Bruce and Alec made their way to The Oasis where the others were waiting.
"So what was it you wanted to tell us?" Angelo asked.
"Well, I think it's better to show you" Brandon said.
The next moment they appeared in his dimensional space, Nicole flew out of the house to welcome them.
"I'm guessing you guys are here to meet the newcomers" Nicole said.
"Newcomers?" Bruce asked confused.
"They will be out in a bit" Nicole replied.
A few minutes later, three individuals walked out of the house, dressed in what seemed to be Brandon's clothes, the others couldn't help staring at their pointy ears.
"umm, hi, I'm Arus and these are my friends Dena and Nneva" The male elf said.
The others still seemed star struck by their appearance as they didn't say anything in reply, Brandon had to clear his throat to gain their attention.
"Right sorry , it's our first time meeting -" Bruce said look to Brandon to complete the statement.
"Elves" Brandon said.
"Elves, yes, my name is Bruce, these are our friends Alec, Isabella, Dom, Maya, Angelo and Natalie" Bruce said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all" Arus said nudging Dena to say something.
"Yeah" Dena sighed.
"I know it's going to be hard being away from your people but, it's for both theirs and your safety, if you had gotten taken with them, some people wouldn't hesitate to torture you in front of them to make sure they tell the truth" Brandon said.
"What exactly happened to her people?" Maya asked.
Brandon explained what had happened on his shadow mission, a serious look appeared on all their faces.
"So what do you plan on doing Brandon?" Natalie asked.
"Well, I couldn't just leave them out there, when we go on holiday, I should be able to sneak aboard a mercenary ship heading for am unclaimed planet where they can live" Brandon replied.
"Well at least they have Nicole to keep them company till then" Maya said.
"Sure, why don't I show you guys around? I could introduce you to Shadow and her cubs" Nicole said.
"That would be nice" Dena said.
"Shouldn't we discuss what we are going to do next?" Alec asked.
"I don't think there's anything we can do, we are approaching the end of the school year which is packed with activities and if we want to be here to continue solving this mystery, we should probably study well for the exams, both practical and theoretical" Angelo said.
"Wow, well when you put it like that, how can I oppose?" Alec chuckled nervously.
"I didn't mean to sound so blunt but, we have other priorities at the moment" Angelo said.
"I understand, I guess I didn't think that far ahead" Alec replied.
Once back in the real world, Brandon split off from the group for the evening, he went looking for Miss Silver for more Genesis runes books while the others stayed at The Oasis to train.
"Brandon, how are you doing?" Miss Silver said as he took a seat before her.
"I'm good, I'm done memorizing the runes in the first book, do you have any more?" Brandon asked.
"As I expected, I don't have another book but, I made a journal of the runes I can remember and what they do, these are more complicated than the ones in that book so take your time with them" Miss Silver said.
"Thank you" Brandon said.
"Don't mention it, by the way how was your mission?" Miss Silver asked.
"It was enlightening, we fought a couple of Demon Warriors, Deathwargs and a Dark Druid" Brandon replied.
"Of Course he didn't wipe them out" Miss Silver scoffed.
"Is something wrong?" Brandon asked.
"When the war within the foreign races first started both Druids and Dark Druids fought against the demon army and my people almost got wiped out but there have been sightings of multiple Dark Druids meaning they weren't wiped out" Miss Silver explained.
"How did you escape?" Brandon asked.
"My parents sent me away along with my brother when I was very young, when the news of war reached us, my brother had me stay on earth while he went to help our people fight but, he never came back" Miss Silver replied.
"This war has and is still costing people their families" Brandon sighed.
"Well that's just how all wars work" Miss Silver said.
After getting the runes from Miss Silver, Brandon returned to The Oasis to join the others as they finished up training.
_______________________________
Meanwhile in a remote location somewhere on another planet, two spaceships could be seen entering the atmosphere, when it seemed like the ships were about to land they appeared to vanish.
In reality, they just past through an illusion hiding the underground docking bay. Stepping out of the spaceships were the military officials present at the shadow mission debrief.
"I didn't expect us to get permission this soon" Lieutenant General Freya said.
"Well everyone is on high alert now and whatever helpful information we can get out of them would be much appreciated" Brigadier General Edward said.
"I believe they already gave the information to Levi to hand over to Raid" Colonel James said.
"Well, we are here to make sure that information checks out" Lieutenant General Marrie said.
"Thus the need to come along with the Telepathic mages" General Val said.
"Well then, let's get this over with" Brigadier General Edward said.
"Remember Edward, these prisoners handed themselves over to us as a sign of goodwill, don't do or say anything that will make them withhold something from us" Lieutenant General Marrie said.
"Well even if they do, we can just rip the information from their brain" Brigadier General Edward said.
"With the way you talk, we are all beginning to wonder if you have any" Colonel James Scoffed.
"They will be more useful to us alive than death, remember Edward, these prisoners aren't the expendable kind" General Val said hushing any further bickering.
The so called prison was like a lounge with titanium barrier emitters signifying the border of their cell, other than the collars they were asked to wear, the elves didn't have any particular issues with their cell, they had comfortable beds and chairs, drinkable water and had recently been served lunch.
"Oh the humans are here" Lev'ion said.
"Probably here to make sure we told Brandon and that human the truth" Taurus said.
"Yeah, I have heard they can be very distrustful" Valeria said.
"You can't really blame them, what would you do if you woke up one morning only to find yourself on the endangered species list?" An elf named Evrion said.
"Let's just get this over with" Taurus said as the officials came to the edge of their cell.
"I hope you are comfortable, despite the suggestions of many, we have decided not to put you in regular prison cells and I hope this is proof enough that we are making an effort to trust you" General Val said.
"The gestures are appreciated ma'am, what could we help you with?" Lev'ion asked.
"Well, a large majority don't believe you have been honest with us probably due to their hatred for anything not human but to prove to them that you are indeed on our side, we have brought some telepathic mages to check your memories, I know it might seem like an invasion of privacy but it's the best we could do" Lieutenant General Freya said.
"I see, we accept" Lev'ion said.
"It's not like we have a say in the matter" Taurus muttered.
"What did you say pointy ears?" Brigadier General Edward asked.
"Edward, behave yourself" General Val ordered as she smacked him to the ground.
"I'm sorry about that" General Val said.
"It's alright, I'm sure he and the others that doubt us do so because of the part we played in attacking you humans, there hatred is somewhat justified but I hope we can move past that someday" Lev'ion said.
With the formalities out of the way, the elves were taken one after the other and had their memories searched, after a few hours, they were allowed back in thier cell while the military officials discussed.
"Looks like they told the truth and even gave us an additional tip on where they might move to" Lieutenant General Marrie said.
"Good to know" Brigadier General Edward said as he rubbed his neck which still stung from General Val's hit.
"Well, let's go, we will send the report to the MMA from the ship and possibly prepare our strategies before we reach the base" General Val said.
"Thank you for your compliance, we promise they can't find you here" Lieutenant General Freya said to the elves and with a signal from General Val, she tapped something on her smartwatch and their collars fell off.
"It was out pleasure, we wish you luck in your endeavors" Lev'ion replied.
And with that, the officials left the elves to go about their day while went off to organize the operation.